MOFI Moves to Unlock Idle Assets to Achieve N100tn Capital Target  

*Mulls national assets registry to reset economy

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja 

Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), the federal government’s investment vehicle, has expressed its determination to work towards a N100 trillion capital target by unlocking liquidity from the country’s idle assets.

It has also expressed a readiness to mobilise, exploit and invest in opportunities that are strategic to the country’s economic and social development plans.

MOFI’s Managing Director, Dr. Armstrong Takang, made the disclosure in Abuja, yesterday, at a quarterly forum in collaboration with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

Takang explained that the proposed National Assets Registry was critical to resetting the Nigerian economic narrative.

According to him, MOFI can leverage its balance sheet, including newly enumerated assets, to secure funding and guarantees from strategic partners.

He stated that the narrative on Nigeria’s economy characterised by the huge debt owed by the country without regard to the nation’s assets was an incomplete one and must be changed.

 Takang stated, “The conversation that speaks of what we owe but does not speak of what we own is not a complete conversation.”

He stressed that Nigeria had many assets spread across the country and beyond, with some of them totally abandoned, adding that a national asset registry must be developed for the country to know what it actually owns and how best to put the assets to use, in the interest of the Nigerian public.

Takang said, “Knowing the assets will help us to know which of the assets we can let go; which ones we can keep. There are assets that are yielding zero interests, yet we are borrowing at about nine per cent interest.  

“Many of our properties abroad have been confiscated because they are not generating any revenue to even pay for utilities or even security.” 

Takang, who heads the recently restructured MOFI, explained that the organisation had been passive and represented a mere piece of legislation until February this year, when the federal government decided to make it a proper institution with a governance structure.

He explained that one of the tasks of his team would be to ensure that all government investments yielded the expected dividend, noting that some of such investments in the past yielded no dividend at all.

Takang argued that in investment, there was nothing like middle ground, stressing that an investor would either add value to the capital or lose it.

According to him, Nigeria should have at least $1 trillion in its kitty to manage by now if its assets had been well managed, citing Singapore, which shared a similar historical background as Nigeria.

Takang punctured the position of many economists on the need to privatise public enterprises in the country on the premise that government had no business in business. He maintained that although the government might not be at the driver’s seat, government would always be in business, as exemplified by many developed economies of the world.

Takang added, “The new MOFI is to be a custodian of public assets. We have to maximise return on investments.  If the federal government provides funds for investment in a commercial concern, it should receive returns on its investment. It is important that we agree that things must be done differently.” 

He noted that some of the loans taken by the government were for investments in commercial entities with the expectation that such entities would generate revenue to service the loans, and if they failed to do so, the debt should be converted to equity.

MOFI, he said, would pay particular attention to local resource mobilisation in its quest to raise funds for investment in various infrastructure projects across the country.

Takang stated that the advantage would be that foreign exchange exposures would be eliminated and repayment of such loans would be a lot easier.

He said Nigeria was doing well in terms of technological companies, but observed that most of such companies were the outcome of foreign investment and the dividends would naturally move abroad. He added that this amounted to subjecting the country to “a second round of economic enslavement”.

In his intervention, Director-General of ICRC, Mr. Mike Ohiani, said the commission was determined to make investments in infrastructure projects very attractive to private capital.

Ohiani stated, “We have collectively recorded applaudable success with PPPs and it is worthy to note that since the inception of the commission in 2010 to date, a total of 103 PPP projects have been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

“These projects would bring in private capital investments of almost NGN11 trillion (approximately $24 billion) and a projected revenue of over N3 trillion and $38 billion for the country.”